I have talked a little about success and failure in previous blogs and to me there are different forms of both success and failure, I would like to talk about them and hopefully convey how I have had both .

SUCCESS is defined by dictionary.com as : ​1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.3. a performance or achievement that is marked by success, as by the attainment of honors.4. a person or thing that has had success, as measured by attainment of goals, wealth, etc.5. Obsolete.

FAILURE is defined by dictionary.com as :1.an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success .2. nonperformance of something due, required, or expected .3. a subnormal quantity or quality; an insufficiency .4. deterioration or decay, especially of vigor, strength, etc.5. a condition of being bankrupt by reason of insolvency.6. a becoming insolvent or bankrupt.7. a person or thing that proves unsuccessful.

What I find interesting is that there are more definitions for FAILURE then there are for SUCCESS and I think it really is just the opposite in most cases and it really boils down to how you measure the two things to me there are only a TWO ways to FAIL at something.

#1 To never try in the first place. #2 To QUIT somewhere along the way.

There were a bunch of times where I wanted to just toss the my notes, my script and everything in the trash and just QUIT and move on to something else but I didn't because someone said to me "You only truly fail when you quit trying" so I kept pushing forward, when we got to set and I realized that I was in way over my head as a first time film maker, I wanted to quit but my cast and crew kept me going because they didn't quit, I couldn't.

A perfect example of personal failure for me is the failure of my crowdfunding campaign not one, not two but THREE failed campaigns and to most people that would be enough failure to last awhile but not me, I KNEW I could make Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis I simply needed people to believe in me, my script and my vision for the movie. I found a cast and crew that did just .

Now lets talk about SUCCESS because there are a MILLION ways to find it and honestly it's all in how you look at things. I find success in small things in indie film making for example I find success in the fact that I have completed roughly 20 scripts in the three years I have been actively writing scripts, I found success when I was able to cast Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis, I found success during the first table read when my script came to life in front of me and the biggest success was when the movie was released on DVD. We were ranked TIED for 3rd in local artist sales the week of thanksgiving and while that might not seem like much to most people that was a HUGE success to me.

Success is looked upon as something that is VERY difficult to achieve and I guess a high level of success like millions of dollars, fame, big houses, expensive cars etc. is in fact hard to achieve but those aren't the only things that make a person successful, are they ? I'm working my dream job making movies for horror fans around the world, am making money ? a little sure. Do I have a big house or sports car ? No. Do I want those things? Yes and no yes I would like to live in a better neighborhood for my kids and if I "make it big" I will get a bigger place for my kids but it'snot important to me to be a big shot film maker because I'm comfortable where I am in life. Like I said I enjoy making movies for horror fans around the world and I find success in doing that,if money and fame come along with it I'm okay with that too.

Dealing With Success & Failure

​To quote Batman Begins "Why do you fall ? So we can lean to pick ourselves up" . If you fail at something get back up and get back at it. Right ? I'll give you an example of failure and finding success in it at the end.

Before I was a screenwriter / indie film maker I had a slew of jobs and I worked in an assisted living facility for nearly 10 years when they decided I was making too much money and it would be more cost effective for them to hire some one part time so I was let go. Was I pissed off ? Hell yeah I was I had grown up in that place, I got married and had 2 of my kids while I worked there, the staff and residents were like family to me. I went home that day and my wife told me she had news for me and she said "I'm pregnant" which made my news even harder to deliver when I told her "They fired me" (one day prior to my daughters 2nd birthday and when I got the notice of termination it was dated for my daughter's birthday) did I cry about it no! I got up the next morning and hit the pavement looking for a job, I lived off my 401K and my vacation time checks for 2 months when I heard about a Family Dollar opening up in my town and I decided I would go to the open application day, I went and jumped through all their hoops. and got the call later on that I needed to be at the store at 8am Tuesday the job was for 10 day to set up the store from the floor up, each set up person would be given ONE DAY OFF and they were going to keep FIVE of the set up crew to stay on as staff.

At that moment I said to myself "I'm going to work harder then everyone else and if I do that they can't deny me" and I did just that, my oldest sons birthday party was that Saturday and I requested it off and was granted it and because someone else needed that day off I stepped up and worked for them on setup. the setup managers walked over to me and said you requested today off, why are you here"? I explained t them that I took someone's place because they needed the day off as well, she then said "You missed your sons birthday party to work"? I said "Yes Ma'am I did, he knows why I had to work today" . I think that single chain of events was the reason I was hired on full time and was groomed from day one to be assistant manager a position I held until I left due to corporate and I having a differing opinion on many things and from there I started Wicked Carnival Productions and I haven't looked back.

How I handle Success is simple, you may have noticed I end my blogs with the phrase "Stay Hungry, Stay Humble". This is my motto that I learned from former NFL player Tino Sabbatelli aka "Sabby" who is currently apart of WWE NXT. The phrase really as stuck with me and it's the first thing I think of in the morning and whenever someone asks me for an autograph or to take a picture with them or wants a moment of my time to talk horror or whatever, I stay humble and give them whatever it is they want from me and I stay hungry for the next opportunity to have that interaction with a fan. It's what motivates me to write the next script, to make the next movie, the joy I get from making a fans day seeing the smile on their face for a moment.

IN CLOSING : I want people to understand that FAILURE in one area of a project isn't the end of the road, it's really the first step to finding SUCCESS. I failed to gain funding for my project, I admit that and am very open about it. Did I let that stop me from reaching my goal of releasing a horror movie for fans worldwide ? Hell No! I'm proud to say that you can purchase Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis on DVD from bullmoose.com (US residents) and our ebay.com store (worldwide)

If you have a dream Chase it, don't let anyone tell you you can't make it happen because if you refuse to quit then you refuse to fail the only other option is to find success :)